Disclaimer: Battlestar Galactica belongs to Ronald D. Moore and the Sci-Fi channel.

On Shaky Ground

Chapter 1: Complicated affairs

"If you're dead-set in throwing yourself into this mess, then I'm coming with you to make sure that you don't do anything dangerous," Adama had told Roslin bluntly. She had insisted on going with them mostly out of her own guilt. He was not about to let anything happen to her, so he accompanied them.

They had managed to find Hera. Athena had used her knowledge of the shuttles to cause their shuttle to read as carrying four Cylons instead of one Cylon and four humans. Once on board the vessel, she thrust her hand into the nearest console to look at ships schematics. Leading the way, Athena took them to the room with Hera.

Athena sneaked up behind the Number Eight looking after the child and knocked her out, quickly switching clothes with her. She embraced her daughter and then allowed Helo to do the same. Then she faced the others.

"Getting here was the easy part. Getting out, not so easy. We need to go out the way we came, but the whole ship is going to know we were here as soon as she," Athena paused to glance at the Eight, "wakes up."

Knowing that the route was precarious, Athena led the way with Helo holding Hera. Admiral Adama and President Roslin had come with them to see that the mission was successful. They quietly crept down the hallways of the Cylon vessel. Number Three suddenly stood in their way though as Athena turned the corner. She motioned for Helo to stop the others so that Number Three only saw her.

"And where are you off to, Eight?" Three inquired.

"I was just heading down to the shuttle bay to make sure everything was in order. According to our sensors, four Cylons docked, but I haven't noticed them being onboard yet," Athena hastily explained.

The plan seemed to be working as Three went off through another hallway. Athena led the way again with Helo and Hera following directly behind her. As they reached the shuttle, Roslin suggested that the family of three enter first. As they did so, Adama felt a hand on his shoulder and turned to see a Leoben model.

"It seems we've caught ourselves a couple of spies," he said smoothly.

Roslin turned to look at the family in the shuttle and shouted, "Go, just go!" before she and Adama were knocked unconscious by a pulse device.

Helo started to pull away from the vessel with Athena looking back at it, holding Hera on her lap. As they neared Galactica, the woman stood and set Hera down. "Helo, take her to Galactica with you. I'm taking the Cylon ship that Bulldog used and going back. We can't just leave the admiral and the president there," she pointed out.

Her husband frowned as they neared the docking bay. "I understand going back for the Old Man, now that we know he never knew the truth about what happened to Hera, but it was the president's fault."

"Leaving her there doesn't make anything right. I'm going back," Athena said as their shuttle docked.

She hurried over to the Cylon ship and was gone again, leaving Helo to explain things to Colonel Tigh, who was on his way to the docking bay. Flying the Cylon ship made the element of surprise easier for her. Once she was back in the Cylon docking bay, she hurried quietly through the corridors, having a suspicion on where they might have taken the admiral and the president.

Adama woke on a scarlet couch, in a small Spartan room. He looked down to see that he donned a white bathrobe and that his uniform had been neatly folded off to the side of the couch. He also noticed that the president was nowhere to be found. As he changed back into his uniform, he tried to think what the Cylons might have done to him, but could come up with no answers, aside from feeling groggy. I have to get out of here and find Laura, he decided as he tried the door. He sighed heavily, finding it to be locked.

Roslin was not so fortunate. She woke on the floor of what appeared to be a cell, with electric bars keeping her in place. And she was not alone. What woke her up was a Leoben's foot making contact with her lower ribs three times. She inhaled sharply and sat up, wanting to be fully aware of where she was. When she tried to get to her feet, he backhanded her and her hand had blood on it when she pressed it to her sore nose.

He was about to hit her again when a Brother Cavil walked in. "That's enough. You were supposed to wake her up, not beat her up."

Leoben glared mercilessly at the woman in front of him. "Do you know how painful and terrifying it is to be thrown out of an airlock? I do!" he growled.

Cavil turned the bars off. "So do I, but this is not how we do things," he mentioned.

At first, Roslin was relieved that Cavil had stopped the violence. But as she watched him and noticed a crafty look in his eyes, she felt her stomach tightening from fear of what he might be capable of himself. He dismissed Leoben and she worried more. Then he handed her a hospital gown.

"Put it on," he instructed calmly.

When she stared at him incredulously he pulled out a handgun. "Put it on."

She had to change in front of him and did so with her back to him, allowing a moment to pretend that she was alone. When she faced him, he still had the gun pointed at her. "Walk," he said calmly again, pointing her in a direction.

The room he led her to made her skin crawl. It was dimly lit, with metal walls and floors like everywhere else. But there was a suspicious chair under a bright lamp near the center of the room, and strange little devices around it. Her first thought was that it was a dentist's chair. Her mind changed when she saw a Number Three and a Leoben enter the room.

"Go on, sit," Three instructed.

Roslin sat in the chair and laid back, knowing that whatever they had planned was about to be truly unpleasant. Leoben grabbed her hand and shoved metal devices shaped like fingers on her. They had wires leading to a console that Cavil stood at. A sickening feeling formed in the back of her throat when she noticed the pleasure in the glance that Cavil now gave to Leoben as the Cylon placed the restraints on her wrists and ankles

"This is how we do things here," Cavil mentioned. "Madame President, where is Earth?" he asked her.

"I don't know," she spat.

Almost immediately she felt a sharp, painful jolt of electricity flood her body, but she did not cry out. She would not give them the satisfaction of knowing that they were causing her pain. "Bad answer. Shall we try again?"

"It won't work, because I still don't know," she stated sardonically.

The energy used on the second burst had been increased, but she still would not make a sound. She was having trouble focusing on the room around her though. A few moments later, she suspected that she had blacked out because another Three seemed to appear out of nowhere with a cart of syringes, vials, and other medical paraphernalia.

Roslin turned her head as the Cylon tightened the tourniquet that she had not noticed as being on her arm before, and injected a clear liquid into one of the veins on her arm. "This is more effective than shocking her, and she'll still be useful to us. Obviously she's not the one who knows were Earth is, but she has another purpose," Three pointed out.

Everything began to look fuzzy and Roslin felt numb from head to toe. Trying hard to focus, she attempted to listen as Three kept speaking, catching parts of what was said as something else was injected into her vein, but staying conscious proved more difficult than she had realized.

"She's useful…"

"Cylon DNA that saved her…"

"we can use it for our advantage…"

"hybrid would be possible, but she's not going to…"

Roslin blinked as she watched them prepare a few more syringes, but they did not seem interested in her arm anymore as she heard part of what Three said, "should help speed up the process…" before blacking out again.

"can't seem to kill him off…"

"We had to get his DNA before he woke up…"

"have to send him back or we're all dead…"

Roslin tuned them out for a moment. Are they talking about Bill? What's he got to do with all of this? I hope he's alright, Roslin pondered as a bitter liquid was shoved down her throat.

She lost consciousness again and woke to their voices, but was still only able to catch part of what was said. "Adjustments are almost complete… process working… term should be normal for a human after this point…," What process? What have they done? She tuned them out again when she realized that she had no feeling anywhere. It was not the numb sensation, but one where she was a disembodied head.

Her sharp intake of breath caused the others to turn to her. "What the hell have you done?" she seethed.

"Relax, you'll get the feeling back in your limbs when some of the drugs where off. We do need you to walk though," Number three stated, freeing Roslin from the restraints. After a few minutes, feeling seeped back into her arms and legs and she sat up.

It felt as though her body had gone to sleep, but as she was able to stand, the numbness wore off and she nearly collapsed from the pain she felt all over. "As I said, you have the feeling back now. Walk," Three ordered.

They led her back to the room with the cell and dragged her inside it, locking the bars in place. Then they all appeared to have walked out. Thinking that she was alone, Roslin quickly changed from the hospital gown back into her conservative warm clothing. She turned and gasped to see Cavil again. He had a rope in his hands as he let the bars down. She gulped when he entered the cell and grabbed her hands.

She was shoved to the ground and felt the pain from her shoulder all the way down her back. He tied her hands together and then tied the rope to one of the lower bars. "Pity we have to keep you alive for now," he muttered as he left her and brought the bars up again.

Now that she truly was alone, she allowed herself the luxury of tears and sobbed until sleep claimed her.